


Yesterday Is Not Ours To Recover

by telperion_15



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Angst, Character Death Fix, M/M, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-25
Updated: 2012-03-25
Packaged: 2017-11-02 12:35:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen returns to find all is not as he hoped it would be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for episodes 2.07, 3.03, 3.09 and 3.10.

  
The anomaly pulsed once, twice, and Abby took a few hasty steps backward. “Incoming!” she yelled over her shoulder, raising her pistol as she heard the sharp snap of Becker priming his shotgun.  
  
The portal bulged towards her once more, and then a figure tumbled out of it, rolling over and over until it came to rest almost at her feet, panting heavily as it looked up at her.  
  
“You might want to…get ready. There’s a whole pack of…Hyaenodon…after me.”  
  
Behind her Becker barked a quick instruction at Connor, ordering him to lock the anomaly. The sparkling shards coalesced into a shimmering ball of light, but Abby barely noticed. She couldn’t stop staring at the man on the ground, unable to believe her eyes.  
  
Stephen grinned up at her and held out a hand. “Are you going to help me up then?” he asked, almost cheekily.  
  
Mechanically, she did so, the touch of his hand on hers doing nothing to dispel the notion that she was dreaming, or hallucinating, or something. She knew she was still staring, but she didn’t know what else to do.  
  
“Wow.”  
  
Connor’s exclamation cut across the stunned silence, and Abby smiled suddenly. Trust Connor to sum it up so succinctly.  
  
“I mean, _wow_. How did this happen? How did you get here?” The young man seemed to be having no problem believing what he was seeing, hesitating only momentarily before bounding up to Stephen and enveloping him in a hug.  
  
“It’s good to see you too, Connor,” said Stephen, his voice slightly muffled by Connor’s hair.  
  
“Seriously, though. How did you…?”  
  
“Wait a minute. Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?”  
  
Stephen looked past Abby and Connor to where Danny was standing, still looking somewhat flummoxed by the turn events had taken. “And you would be…?”  
  
“Quinn. Danny Quinn. And no offence, mate, but aren’t you supposed to be dearly departed?”  
  
“You know who I am, then?”  
  
“One Stephen Hart. Died in a creature attack in the bunker of a certain Oliver Leek. Saved the world, by all accounts.”  
  
Abby flinched and glared at Danny. Then she turned back to Stephen. “He could have put it better, but he’s not wrong. You’re dead, Stephen,” she said quietly. “You’ve been dead for months.”  
  
“Do I look dead?”  
  
“Well, no, but…we went to your funeral, for heaven’s sake!”  
  
Stephen’s expression turned sombre. “I’m sorry about that, I really am,” he said. “But I had no choice. There was no way to…look, take me back to the ARC, and I’ll explain everything. I don’t really want to have to do it more than once, anyway. I assume Cutter’s back there? The operation must have expanded if you’ve managed to go on a recruitment drive.” His glance shifted between Danny and Becker, obviously unsure what to make of them.  
  
 _Oh. Oh no…_  
  
“Stephen, there’s something we have to tell you…” Abby began softly. Beside her she could feel Connor tensing up, and knew that he was remembering what had happened on that fateful day so many months ago.  
  
“What? What is it?”  
  
“It’s…Cutter. He’s dead. I’m so sorry, Stephen.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“It was a while back. There was a fire…a bomb…” Connor stuttered to a halt, clearly uncertain how to relate precisely what had happened to Cutter.  
  
“Look, let’s go back to the ARC like you said, yeah?” Abby suggested gently. “Lester will want to see you, and then we can tell you everything. Let’s not do this here, okay?” she persisted, and Stephen nodded dumbly.  
  
He looked like he’d been completely knocked for six, and Abby’s heart ached for him. He’d obviously been through a lot to get back to them, and then to find out something like this…unfortunately, she knew all too well what it felt like to lose a friend so suddenly.  
  
Taking his hand again, she pulled him gently in the direction of the trucks, Connor and Danny following while Becker and his men stayed behind to guard the anomaly. As Stephen allowed himself to be led, Abby wondered just how she was going to explain things to him.  
  
*   *   *   *   *  
  
“Tell me everything,” said Stephen dully.”  
  
“Stephen, I’m sorry…”  
  
“Just _tell_ me,” he snapped, and then looked contrite as Abby jumped. “Sorry,” he sighed. “I just…I need to know, okay?”  
  
Abby nodded. She’d purposely led Stephen to this out of the way, unused office so she could talk to him in private, but now they were here she didn’t know quite how to begin. Stupidly, she wished Connor were here with her, even as she knew she couldn’t have put the young man through the ordeal. He had been there when Cutter died, that was enough. He didn’t need to deal with this too.  
  
So she’d sent him and Danny to tell Lester about Stephen’s return, knowing they weren’t the best two to break the news, but unwilling to leave Stephen, or bring him into Lester’s presence before she’d had a chance to tell him what she wished she didn’t have to.  
  
“How did it happen?” Stephen prompted her softly.  
  
“He was shot,” she replied, equally quietly.  
  
“By who? Was it some ally of Leek’s?”  
  
“No…”  
  
“An accident then? In the field?”  
  
“No, it was…”  
  
“What happened, Abby? Please…”  
  
“It was…Helen. She shot him.”  
  
“What?” Stephen looked confused, as if he thought he’d misheard. “No, that can’t be right. Why would she?”  
  
Slowly, haltingly, Abby explained about Helen’s belief that Cutter was the first rung on the ladder to a devastated future, that the anomaly project was responsible for the future predators, and for the destruction of mankind. She related how Helen had used a clone of Cutter to access the ARC and plant a bomb, and how Cutter had gone back into the burning building to rescue her. And how then Helen had…  
  
Her voice dried up.  
  
“Destroying the ARC wasn’t enough,” Stephen finished for her. “She wanted to be certain.” He laughed, a dry, brittle sound. “That’s just like Helen. She always wanted to be _certain_.” Then he looked at Abby sharply. “Did it work? Did she prevent that future?”  
  
Wordlessly, Abby shook her head.  
  
“Not as certain as she could have been, then,” Stephen said flatly. “Where is she now?”  
  
“She’s dead as well.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“She was trying to wipe out the human race before it evolved. That was her Plan B. She didn’t manage it, obviously, but she was killed in the past. Danny saw it happen. She’s gone, Stephen.”  
  
There were a couple of moments of silence. “It doesn’t seem possible,” Stephen said eventually. “I can’t believe she’s really gone.” Then his face hardened. “She deserved it.”  
  
“Stephen, I…”  
  
He shot her look. “Tell me you don’t agree with me.”  
  
Abby fell silent. She couldn’t say the words.  
  
“Well, I for one certainly agree with you. Life’s been a lot quieter, that’s for sure.”  
  
They both turned to regard Lester standing in the doorway, Connor and Danny hovering behind him.  
  
“The prodigal son returns. I can’t decide if I’m happy to see you or not.”  
  
Stephen smiled grimly. “Hello to you too, Lester.”  
  
“Would you care to explain how you got here? I’m sure it will make for a fascinating tale.”  
  
“Can’t you give him a moment?” Abby interjected. “He’s exhausted, and he’s just found out…”  
  
Lester held up a hand in interruption. “Very well. You can have a shower and some food, but then I want you in my office with your storytelling hat on.” He glanced at Abby. “But he is _not_ to leave the ARC, and he is not to be given any more information until we’ve established that he is who he says he is. Understood?”  
  
Abby and Stephen both nodded. Lester’s face softened almost imperceptibly. “I am sorry for your loss,” he said formally, but not unfeelingly, “but we must find out what has happened here. That comes first.”  
  
Stephen nodded again. “I understand.”


	2. Chapter 2

  
Freshly showered, dressed in some spare clothes of Danny’s, and with a decent meal inside him, Stephen sat down opposite Lester. Abby sat down next to him, while Connor and Danny loitered next to the large plate glass window that overlooked the operations room.  
  
Sarah had appeared from her lab while Stephen was in the shower, and after a quick explanation from Abby about what was going on, had followed along to Lester’s office, and seated herself on the couch to the side of Lester’s desk.  
  
Neither she nor Danny had ever met Stephen before today, and Stephen seemed slightly nonplussed by the appearance of another unfamiliar face, looking around as if searching for someone.  
  
“Where’s Jenny?” he asked abruptly, as the office door closed behind them.  
  
“She left the project,” said Danny succinctly.  
  
“She, er, needed some space,” Abby elaborated. “After…well, after…”  
  
Stephen nodded quickly. “It’s okay, I understand.”  
  
“And now perhaps you could help us understand _you_ ,” said Lester, drawing all their eyes back to him. “How exactly are you not dead? After all, the last time I looked, people couldn’t rise from the grave.”  
  
“Maybe he’s from a parallel universe,” Connor interrupted. “Or maybe he’s a clone.”  
  
Stephen smiled wryly, and looked over his shoulder at the young man. “Sorry to disappoint you, Connor, but I’m just me. No Sci-Fi or Hocus Pocus here, I’m afraid.” He took a deep breath, and suddenly Abby could see an apology reflected in his eyes.  
  
“I was never dead, actually,” Stephen said softly.  
  
“What?” Abby couldn’t stop the surprised exclamation from slipping out. “But Cutter saw you die!”  
  
“Actually, he didn’t. He watched for as long as he could, but I don’t blame him for turning away. I may not have died, but I expect the view through that window wasn’t a pretty sight.”  
  
“So what happened?” questioned Lester, a trace of impatience colouring his tone.  
  
“I was rescued,” replied Stephen simply.  
  
A somewhat stunned silence greeted his words, and then Danny asked the obvious question. “By who?”  
  
“I don’t really know,” said Stephen. “It was a woman, but I’ve never seen her before in my life. An anomaly just opened, right there in the cage room, and she appeared and dragged me through it. I think she had some kind of device that kept the creatures away, but I’m not totally sure. I was in a fair amount of pain and kind of out of it by that point.”  
  
“Then what?” said Connor.  
  
“She took me to the future, I think. Not very far, but far enough that medicine had advanced somewhat. They didn’t have any miracle cures, and it still took me a while to recover, but I’m good as new now.” Stephen looked around at them all. “Look, you have to believe me. There was no opportunity to let anyone know I was alive. Once I was through that anomaly, I was stuck. As soon as I was better I started trying to find my way back, but this is the first time I’ve managed to make it anywhere close to the right time.”  
  
He sounded desperately contrite, and Abby reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “It’s okay. We understand.”  
  
“I’m sorry you thought I was dead. All I wanted to do was find you. To let you see I was okay. To talk to Cutter and…” He stopped suddenly, and Abby squeezed his shoulder again.  
  
“What happened to this woman?” Lester asked into the silence. “Did she help you navigate the anomalies?”  
  
“No,” said Stephen. “As a matter of fact, after she brought me to the hospital, she left. I haven’t seen her since.”  
  
“What did she look like?” said Sarah, speaking for the first time. “Did you find out her name?”  
  
“Well, she was quite young,” replied Stephen slowly. “Only a few years older than Abby, I’d say. And she had brown hair, and was wearing some kind of jump suit. That’s all I can remember really. Like I said, I was pretty out of it.”  
  
“So she didn’t even tell you her name?” Sarah persisted.  
  
“Actually, she did,” Stephen said, looking as if he was remembering something for the first time. “She told me to call her Eve.”  
  
Facing forward as he was, he missed the shocked looks that passed between Abby, Connor, Danny, and Sarah. Only Lester’s raised eyebrow clued him in to the fact that he’d said something important. “What?” he asked, confused. “Have you guys met her too?”  
  
“Stephen,” Abby began softly, “Eve is…she’s…”  
  
“Eve is Helen Cutter,” interrupted Lester bluntly.  
  
Stephen looked even more confused. “I don’t understand,” he said slowly.  
  
“She had some kind of technological disguise,” explained Abby. “She looked like Eve, but then she pressed a button, and suddenly she looked like Helen again.”  
  
“It was like a hologram or something,” Connor put in. “But a really advanced one. It was overlaying her real face. She must have got it from the future. The same future she took you to - before it all went tits up,” he clarified.  
  
“But why would she save me?” said Stephen. “Why go to all that trouble?”  
  
“Who knows?” said Danny. “Maybe she felt guilty for what happened to you, but didn’t want you to know who she really was, so helped you while disguised.”  
  
“We’ll never know now,” said Connor.  
  
“Maybe that explains this,” Stephen said suddenly. He rummaged in his pocket, and produced a device that Abby and the others recognised instantly. “The doctors gave it to me when I was better, said she’d left it for me. It took me a while to work out what it was for, and longer to learn to read it properly, but it got me here eventually. It’s a sort of map and remote control combined,” he finished.  
  
“We know,” said Abby. “We’ve got one too. Helen dropped it in the cretaceous when she was trying to carry out her plan to prevent the evolution of humanity. Connor and I found it.”  
  
Stephen looked faintly amazed. “What were you doing in the cretaceous?” he asked.  
  
“I think that’s a story for another day,” Lester said, before Abby could answer. “I think Mr. Hart here needs to get down to the infirmary to be properly assessed.” He fixed Stephen with a stare. “No arguments. I’ve given you some leeway because we needed to find out where you’d come from. But now you need to be thoroughly checked out, if only so we can attempt to prove you’re not a clone. For all we know, you could be some leftover plan of Helen’s that she didn’t have a chance to put into action before she died. You could be about to burn down our nicely refurbished facility again.”  
  
“I’m not a clone,” Stephen said firmly, but he appeared to have realised that it was no use arguing, and stood up willingly enough.  
  
“And Mr. Temple, you and Dr. Page take a look at that anomaly remote of his. See if it’s got any more geographical data on it than the one already in our possession.” Making an impatient shooing motion with his hands, Lester turned his attention to his computer. “Well, go on. I don’t want you cluttering up my office any longer.”


	3. Chapter 3

  
Abby knocked carefully on the door, and then pushed it open. Stephen was sitting cross-legged on the narrow bunk, and she halted in front of him.  
  
“Cup of tea?”  
  
Stephen laughed. “Why do we humans think everything can be solved with a cup of tea?”  
  
Abby held the mug out towards him. “I defy you not to feel better after taking a mouthful of that. I make a mean cuppa.”  
  
“I remember.” Stephen took the mug and sipped at the steaming beverage. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a cup of tea.”  
  
Abby perched herself on the edge of the bed. “How long did it take you to get here?” she asked softly.  
  
Stephen regarded her with sombre eyes. “I’m not exactly sure,” he replied. “I lost track of time a bit. I was in the hospital in the future for at least a month. And then, like I said, it took me a while to figure out how to read the anomaly map on the device. And then I had to navigate a lot of anomalies and time periods. And it wasn’t always plain sailing.” He frowned slightly. “Say about eight months in total? Something like that, anyway.”  
  
“Oh, it’s only been about seven since you…since you…left,” Abby said. She shook her head a little. “It’s so hard to get your head around all this timeline stuff. Connor understands it a lot better than me.”  
  
“I really am sorry, Abby,” Stephen said quietly. “I’m sorry I just left like that. But I had…”  
  
“No choice, I know,” Abby finished for him. “It’s okay, Stephen. You’re here now, and that’s what matters.”  
  
Stephen’s eyes had taken on a faraway look. “I knew Cutter was there,” he said. “Right on the other side of the door. I didn’t want to leave him there, Abby, but Eve – Helen – dragged me away. She obviously didn’t want to risk any of the creatures getting through the anomaly.”  
  
“Cutter thought the reason there was no body was because the creatures had…” Abby couldn’t finish the sentence, and Stephen smiled at her sadly.  
  
“And now Cutter’s gone instead. I’ve been imagining for months the look on his face when I finally got back. I couldn’t decide if he’d hug me or hit me. I don’t think I would have minded either, really.” He looked away. “I can’t believe she did that,” he said bitterly. “I thought, despite everything, she still loved him. But how could she have…?”  
  
“I think she _did_ still love him, in her own way,” said Abby. “But she thought she was saving the world, and that was more important.”  
  
Stephen laughed humourlessly. “Didn’t work though, did it? She killed him, and he’s dead. And she is too, and the future’s still the same.” He thumped a hand on the mattress. “What a bloody waste!”  
  
Gently, Abby reached out and took the mug from him, the contents of which were in danger of slopping over his hand and scalding him. “I’m sorry, Stephen,” she said. “I know you and  
Cutter had your differences at the end, but…”  
  
“I wanted to make it up to him,” said Stephen abruptly. “That’s what’s been keeping me going all these months. I wanted to tell him I was sorry and ask for his forgiveness. I wanted…I wanted things to go back how they used to be,” he finished softly.  
  
Abby placed a comforting hand on his knee and squeezed gently. She felt useless. Cutter had been dead for months. They were all moving on. But for Stephen it was as fresh and raw as if it had only happened yesterday, and Abby wasn’t quite sure what to do. Truth be told, after seeing how Connor had struggled to hold it together after his mentor’s death, she wasn’t sure she could be a witness to Stephen’s grief.  
  
But the moment passed, and Stephen seemed to pull himself together. “So now you have some new team members,” he said. “Danny Quinn and Sarah Page. And who was the soldier I saw back at the anomaly site?”  
  
“That was Captain Becker,” Abby told him. “After…well, after you, Lester decided we needed military backup again, to stop anything else like that from happening.”  
  
“Fat lot of good that seems to have done,” Stephen snorted bitterly. Then he threw her an apologetic look. “Sorry. I’m sure this Becker’s a good bloke. We both know what Cutter’s relationship with soldiers was like.”  
  
They shared a smile, remembering incidents past.  
  
“I take it Quinn’s the team leader then? Cutter’s replacement?”  
  
“I guess you could say that, yes,” Abby replied awkwardly.  
  
“It’s okay,” said Stephen reassuringly. “Someone’s got to be in charge after all. And Dr. Page, what does she do?”  
  
Abby hesitated. “Lester said we weren’t to tell you anything else…”  
  
“Abby, I’m _not_ a clone, and I’m not part of some madcap scheme of Helen’s.”  
  
“I know…”  
  
“Please. I need something to take my mind off things. And I’m not going anywhere until the results of all Lester’s little tests have come back. Why don’t you start at the beginning, and tell me everything that’s happened while I’ve been away. That should keep us going for a while.”  
  
*   *   *   *   *  
  
Early the next morning, Abby hurried into the ARC, leaving Connor behind as she navigated the corridor leading from the car park. The young man had grumbled incessantly all the way there about, as he termed it, ‘rising with the dawn’, but Abby had been adamant that if he wanted a lift, he had to put up with the early start.  
  
Stephen had been restricted to the ARC for the time being, and after exchanging tales of their experiences over the past few months the previous evening, she’d left him to settle into the small bunkroom he’d been allocated, and reluctantly gone home.  
  
But today she was hoping they could finally persuade Lester that Stephen wasn’t a danger to anyone, and that he could take his place on the anomaly project again. She knew it would hurt Stephen to see the team being run by Danny instead of Cutter, but she hoped it wouldn’t be enough to make him leave the project. They needed his expertise, particularly now he’d spent so long travelling through the anomalies. And besides, she’d missed him. And she knew that Connor had too.  
  
Heading to Stephen’s temporary accommodation, she knocked quickly before sticking her head inside. The room was empty, but Abby wasn’t unduly worried. She remembered that Stephen was an early riser, and often liked to run in the mornings before work. He was probably in the gym or something.  
  
But the gym only contained Captain Becker, moving smoothly backwards and forwards on the rowing machine. When he saw her he slowed his pace to a stop and raised an enquiring eyebrow in her direction.  
  
“Something I can help you with?”  
  
“Have you seen Stephen? He’s not in his room.”  
  
“Not this morning, I haven’t,” replied Becker, after thinking for a second. “Perhaps he’s in the infirmary? Or maybe the rec room, getting breakfast?”  
  
“You’re probably right,” Abby acknowledged. “Thanks, Becker.”  
  
“No problem.”  
  
But Stephen wasn’t in either the infirmary _or_ the rec room, and Abby started to wonder where on earth he _was_. As a last resort she checked Lester’s office, only to be waved away impatiently as Lester spoke rapidly to someone on the other end of the phone. Abby debated waiting for him to end the call so she could tell him about Stephen’s absence, but decided not to rock the boat just yet. There were plenty of other places around the ARC he could still be, after all. Maybe he’d gone on a wander to refamiliarise himself with the place.  
  
But as she made her way down the ramp to the floor of the operations room, Connor called to her from his position in front of the ADD.  
  
“Abby, Lester didn’t say anything about any problems with the detector, did he?”  
  
“No, why?”  
  
“It’s just that the logs show that it was restarted last night, sometime around 1am. But I can’t find any reason why that would have been necessary.”  
  
Abby felt a shiver ripple down her spine, although she couldn’t exactly say why. “So it’s working fine now?”  
  
“There’s nothing wrong with it that I can find.”  
  
Weaving her way through the workbenches, Abby came to a halt behind Connor, her feeling of unease intensifying. “Connor, how long does the detector’s restart sequence take?” she asked.  
  
“Between five and ten minutes – there’s quite a lot of software to boot up.”  
  
“Long enough for an anomaly to open and close without it being detected?”  
  
“Yes, definitely. Abby, what are you getting at?”  
  
“Have you still got the anomaly opening device that Helen gave Stephen?”  
  
“Yes, it’s over there, next to my laptop.”  
  
Abby walked swiftly over to where Connor had indicated and scanned the work surface. “Connor, it’s not here.”  
  
“What?” Connor hurried over to join her, pushing aside a few pieces of paper and bits of equipment. But it was clear the device wasn’t there.  
  
“Maybe Sarah took it to help her with her work on Cutter’s model.”  
  
“Sarah’s not in yet,” Abby replied slowly. “No, I think…I think Stephen took it.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I can’t find him anywhere, Connor. I think he took the device back, and restarted the detector so he could open an anomaly somewhere in the ARC without anyone being alerted to it.”  
  
“You mean he’s…”  
  
“Yes, Connor. He’s gone.”


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of the gunshot was deafening, even over the crackling flames and falling architecture. Nick, his eyes closed against the determination written across Helen’s face, tensed in anticipation of the impact, expecting any second to feel pain racing through his body.  
  
But there was no impact, and no pain.  
  
He opened his eyes.  
  
Smoke was billowing across the corridor, but he could still make out the figure standing with Helen. Standing _in front_ of her, gripping her wrist, forcing her arm upwards.  
  
The shot had gone wide, and he was still alive.  
  
The figure was male, but that was all Nick could tell with any certainty. Had Becker, or maybe Connor, come back to see what was going on?  
  
But no. The person was too tall for Becker, and too well-built for Connor. So who was it?  
  
Nick couldn’t see Helen’s face – it was obscured by the shoulder of his rescuer. But he could tell that she was grappling with the man, trying to pull herself from his grip.  
  
A head turned, throwing a face into silhouetted profile against the red glow of the fire. And at the same time a voice called out, “Cutter! Are you alright?”  
  
The world swayed, just for a moment, and Nick didn’t think it was due to smoke inhalation. What he had missed was now obvious to him, and he wondered how he hadn’t seen it straight away.  
  
 _Because it’s not possible_ , a voice insisted in his head. _You’re hallucinating, or dreaming, or something. Perhaps you fell and hit your head. Yes, that must be it._  
  
Stephen turned further, calling out again. “Cutter! Are you okay?”  
  
Nick nodded, and then realised Stephen probably couldn’t make it out through the smoke. “Yes,” he called back shakily. “I’m fine. She missed.”  
  
 _Stop it_ , the voice admonished him. _This isn’t real_.  
  
But Helen, sensing an opportunity, chose that moment to finally twist out of Stephen’s grip, the gun clattering to the floor as she darted away into the shadows.  
  
Stephen made a move to go after her, but Nick’s cry stopped him.  
  
“No! Stephen, don’t.”  
  
He still wasn’t sure he believed his own eyes, but that was no reason not to hold on to the moment for as long as possible.  
  
Stephen turned back from the vanished Helen, and strode quickly towards Nick instead. “Come on, we have to go before this place collapses on top of us.”  
  
“Wait, there’s something I have to get first. It’s important.”  
  
Stephen gave him a stern look, but nonetheless followed him as he hurried back to the office where he’d found Helen, and extracted the artefact from its hiding place. He brandished it at Stephen.  
  
“Now we can go.”  
  
On their way out they met Connor coming in. The young man’s gaze immediately settled on Cutter, relief etched across his features. “Professor, thank god! We thought something had happened to you.”  
  
“I’m not so sure it hasn’t,” Nick muttered, the words too muffled for Connor to catch. But as Stephen appeared out of the fumes behind him, he saw Connor’s eyes widen in shock, and grabbed the younger man’s arm.  
  
“Later, Connor. We need to get out of here.”  
  
Together, the three of them stumbled through as close an approximation of hell as Nick ever wished to see, and finally emerged into sweet, fresh air, sinking to their knees and drawing in great deep breaths of oxygen as they coughed the smoke from their lungs.  
  
It was some moments before Nick became aware of the shocked silence surrounding him, and realised that no one had rushed forward to see if any of them were okay. Raising his head, he pushed sweaty, soot-filled hair from his eyes, and took in the expressions on everyone’s faces.  
  
Abby and Jenny were gaping rather unattractively, clearly gobsmacked by what they were seeing. Sarah and Becker looked puzzled rather than shocked, but Nick could see the realisation dawning in their eyes. Even Lester appeared surprised, although as Nick watched he smoothed it away and started demanding again to know where the emergency services were.  
  
Beside him, Stephen coughed again, and then raised an arm slowly, giving a small wave.  
  
“Hi, everyone.”  
  
*   *   *   *   *  
  
Nick looked across the car park to where Stephen was sitting in the back of an ambulance, alternately breathing in oxygen from a mask, and chatting to Abby, who was leaning on the bumper next to him.  
  
In the time it had taken the paramedics and fire service to arrive, the sun had started to set, sinking behind the ARC and throwing the space inside the gates into shadow. The loss of the sunlight made the grey pallor of everyone’s feature’s harder to discern, but the exhaustion that was catching up with all of them was still obvious.  
  
Nick knew he should go and talk to Stephen, but for the moment he was content just to watch. Truth be told, his mind was still too much of a jumble to think coherently about the situation. And every time he blinked he was still expecting Stephen to disappear suddenly, to dissolve into the growing dusk and shadows.  
  
A touch on his shoulder made him look round, although his eyes snapped back almost immediately to check that Stephen was still there.  
  
Jenny smiled at him. “How are you doing?”  
  
“I’m not sure,” Nick told her truthfully.  
  
“It’s a bit of a shock, isn’t it?” Jenny said, nodding towards Stephen.  
  
“You can say that again.”  
  
“Where did he come from?”  
  
“I have no idea. I haven’t had a chance to ask him yet.”  
  
“Do you think he’s a…”  
  
“Clone? Who knows? Maybe.”  
  
“What happened to the other clone? Did you see it in there?”  
  
“No. It’s – he’s – probably dead. He was right by the bomb when it went off.”  
  
“Lester’s making sure each of the firemen has at least one of Becker’s men with them when they go inside the ARC,” Jenny said. “It’s dangerous, but he doesn’t want anyone seeing more than they have to. They’ll find any bodies.” She paused. “What about Helen?”  
  
“Gone,” said Nick shortly. He reflected on the fact that he’d told Stephen not to follow her. Odd, when the specific reason he’d gone into the burning building was to find her. Being shot at tended to change one’s viewpoint a little, he realised.  
  
“Gone as in dead, or gone as in ‘gone’?”  
  
“Gone as in I don’t know,” Nick admitted. “But Helen’s a survivor. I doubt she’d let something so insignificant as a fire stop her.”  
  
“But you managed to get the artefact.”  
  
“Yes. Connor’s looking at it now. I think he’d start working on it straightaway if Lester wasn’t insisting he go to hospital.”  
  
“Lester’s insisting you go to hospital too,” Jenny pointed out. “You need to get checked out. Although I Think he’d rather Stephen didn’t show his face in public yet,” she added lightly.  
  
“I’m fine,” said Nick dismissively, unaware of Jenny rolling her eyes behind him. He looked towards Stephen again. “I need to talk to him. I need to find out how he got here.”  
  
“I think we all want to know that,” said Jenny. She gave him a little push. “Go on, then. Go and talk to him. Before Lester remembers that he’s here and drags him off for the third degree.”  
  
Nick smiled at her quickly, and then made his way rather hesitantly over to Stephen. The other man looked up as he approached.  
  
“I’m not a clone,” he said instantly.  
  
Nick blinked. “What?”  
  
Stephen smiled crookedly. “Just thought I’d get that in before you asked me,” he said. “It seems to be the first conclusion everyone’s jumping to.”  
  
Well, we have had first hand experience of such things recently…” Nick began.  
  
“Yes, I know all about that,” Stephen interrupted him.  
  
Nick’s eyes swung to Abby, who held up her hands defensively. “Hey, don’t look at me. He knew already. I asked him how, but he said he wanted to talk to you first.”  
  
“Really?” Nick asked Stephen.  
  
Stephen looked a little sheepish. “I guess,” he replied. “Considering it was you I came back for.”  
  
That took Nick aback a little. “Oh…okay.”  
  
“Is there somewhere we can talk?”  
  
“My place?” Nick offered, somewhat uncertainly.  
  
“Hey, you two shouldn’t be running off, the state you’re in,” Abby protested.  
  
“We’re fine,” Nick and Stephen chorused together. They caught each other’s eye and laughed.  
  
“Not to mention that Lester will flip his lid if he discovers you’ve sneaked away before he’s found out everything about Stephen,” Abby continued. Then she grinned. “But don’t let that stop you!”  
  
Nick smiled back. “Thanks, Abby. But listen. I know we’re a pair of stubborn buggers, but make sure Connor gets looked at, okay? Don’t let him get distracted by the artefact.”  
  
“I will,” promised Abby. She straightened up, and sauntered away in the direction of the tent set up on the other side of the car park. Through the open flaps Nick could see Connor and Sarah bending over the artefact, while a medic tried unsuccessfully to get Connor to put on an oxygen mask. Although he couldn’t help but notice that every few seconds the young man’s eyes darted towards him and Stephen, and reflected that maybe it was better that Connor did have the artefact to focus on at the moment.  
  
A thud told him Stephen had hopped out of the ambulance, and he looked at the other man, still wondering if he was going to wake up any moment.  
  
“Are we going then?” Stephen asked.  
  
“Yes, come on.” Nick looked around quickly. “Let’s just make sure that Lester doesn’t see us, okay?”


	5. Chapter 5

  
“I know what the artefact does,” Stephen said abruptly.  
  
“What?” Nick threw him a quick glance, and then turned his eyes back to the road. “How can you know that?”  
  
“Abby told me.”  
  
“Abby? How does _she_ know?”  
  
“Oh, not that Abby. A…different Abby.”  
  
“A different Abby?”  
  
“It was in…um…in the future,” Stephen said lamely.  
  
Nick was silent for a moment. “It sounds like there’s a lot I need to hear about,” he said eventually. “But let’s wait until we get home, okay? I don’t think I could give the story the attention it deserves right now.”  
  
“Alright.” Stephen nodded. “It’s going to take a while to tell you everything anyway.”  
  
By the time they got back to Nick’s house it had been dark for a while, and the blinking red light on the answer phone was immediately obvious in the shadows of the hallway when they walked through the door.  
  
“I’ll bet you anything you like that’s Lester,” Nick said, eyeing the device ruefully.  
  
Stephen smiled. “I don’t think you’d get any takers on that one.”  
  
Nick pressed the ‘play’ button. “ _You have one new message,_ ” the mechanical female voice told him.  
  
“ _Cutter, what the hell do you think you’re playing at? You can’t just abscond with an up until recently dead man. Who knows what he’s here for? He could be dangerous. He could be a…_ ”  
  
Nick hit another button, cutting off Lester’s clipped, angry tones, and then pulled out his mobile. The display told him he had three missed calls, and he shrugged before switching it off.  
  
Stephen was still looking at the answering machine. “See, even Lester thinks I’m a clone.”  
  
“It’s Lester. He’d like it to be that simple.”  
  
“Me being a clone would be simple?”  
  
“Simpler than being a dead man come back to life, yes.”  
  
“I was never dead…” Stephen began awkwardly, but Nick held up a hand to stop him.  
  
“Wait. I think we both need a drink, don’t you? Then you can fill me in on the details.”  
  
Stephen nodded, and followed him into the living room. Nick could see the other man looking around as he poured a couple of glasses of whiskey, and cringed inwardly. He supposed he _had_ let the place get a bit messy. And considering he generally lived in the middle of quite a lot of clutter, that was saying something. Tidiness just hadn’t seemed important lately.  
  
“Seat?” he asked, chucking a couple of notebooks and a sweater on to the floor to make a space for Stephen on the sofa.  
  
Stephen accepted the glass Nick held out to him, and then sat down. Removing a jacket from the arm of the sofa opposite, Nick perched on it.  
  
For a few moments both men concentrated on their drinks, sneaking glances at each other when they thought they wouldn’t be noticed.  
  
"Did you mean what you said earlier?” Nick asked eventually, the quiet words sounding louder than they should have done in the silence.  
  
“Which bit are you referring to?”  
  
“That it was me you came back for.”  
  
“Oh.” Stephen seemed surprised that Nick had chosen that question to ask, and his eyes fixed themselves on the bottom of his whiskey glass. “Oh, that. Yes, I suppose I did.”  
  
“But why?”  
  
Now Stephen looked up. “What do you mean, ‘why?’”  
  
“Why would you go to all that trouble for me?”  
  
“Because, well…look, I’m not proud of my behaviour, okay? I was an idiot all those years ago, and apparently I was too stupid to learn my lesson. You were right not to forgive me.”  
  
“So you came back for forgiveness?”  
  
Yes…no…look, I don’t know. All I _do_ know is that, during those months before…before what happened, I missed you. I know I deserved it, but I did. I missed you a lot.”  
  
“So is that why you went back to Helen?”  
  
Stephen smiled wryly. “Remember the part where I didn’t learn my lesson?” He sighed. “Look, I was lonely. And she…she seemed like she cared. I let myself be taken in.”  
  
“Yes, you did.”  
  
“You know if I could take it back, I would. You know it’s you I really wanted.”  
  
“Do I?” Nick held up a hand quickly. “No, sorry, that was unfair of me. I don’t yet know how you’ve managed it, but you seem to have risen from the dead for me, so it would seem pretty churlish not to believe you.”  
  
“Good, because it’s the truth.”  
  
The two men looked at each other for a few moments, before Nick said, with air of someone making a confession, “I _did_ forgive you, you know.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Almost straight away. I just don’t think I realised it. It hurt, knowing that you’d been keeping that from me every day the whole time we’d known each other. And I think I let that cloud my feelings.” Nick laughed bitterly. “But how could I _not_ forgive you? It’s _you_ , Stephen. You were in my life for eight years, and then suddenly you weren’t. And it wasn’t until then that I realised just how much I _had_ forgiven you.”  
  
Slowly, he bent to set his empty glass on the floor, and then rose from his perch, crossing the room and kneeling in front of Stephen. Gently, he raised his hands and placed his fingers over Stephen’s where they were still wrapped around his own glass.  
  
“How long?” he asked quietly. “How long did it take you to find me again?”  
  
“Too long.” The words sounded choked, and Nick’s fingers tightened, sliding the glass from Stephen’s grasp and putting it aside.  
  
He’d known the confidence and strength was just a façade. He wondered how long Stephen had really been looking, and what he’d had to face during his search. He’d noticed the weariness on Stephen’s face even if no one else had. And he could see that the shell was beginning to crack, now that Stephen was letting himself believe he’d finally achieved his goal.  
  
Almost hesitantly, Nick raised Stephen’s now empty hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across the knuckles. “You’re tired,” he stated.  
  
Stephen’s eyes never left Nick’s face as he nodded. “Exhausted,” he acknowledged.  
  
“Well, then.” Nick levered himself to his feet, not letting go of Stephen’s hand. “Let’s get you to bed.”  
  
But when they reached the top of the stairs, Nick was surprised to feel a slight tug against his grip as Stephen tried to move in the direction of the spare room.  
  
“And where do you think you’re going?” He pulled Stephen towards him. “When I said I’d forgiven you, I _meant_ it. You’re not the only one who missed someone, you know.”  
  
Staring slightly, Stephen allowed himself to be led into Nick’s bedroom. Nick could tell that the other man was almost at his limit as the exhaustion took hold, and he sat passively on the side of the bed as Nick dug out an old t-shirt and shorts for Stephen to sleep in.  
  
It was almost as much as Stephen could do to change his clothes, and by the time he crawled under the duvet he was clearly operating on auto-pilot, offering up no more than a tremulous smile before his eyes slid shut.  
  
Nick watched him for a few moments, and then quickly got changed and climbed into bed himself. Then he hesitated. Despite everything they’d both said, he wasn’t sure whether Stephen would welcome any closeness right now, and he dithered for a few moments, trying to ignore the almost physical ache that demanded he take Stephen in his arms.  
  
But Stephen solved the problem for him, moving unconsciously in his sleep to curl against Nick, pressing his face against Nick’s shoulder.  
  
It was a long time before Nick fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

  
Nick wasn’t sure what had woken him. It was a few seconds before he realised that something was missing. Or, to be more accurate, _someone_. It was strange, he mused as he sat up and blinked sleepily, how humans could adjust to something so quickly as to notice immediately when it was gone. It had only been a few hours since Stephen had returned to his life, and yet he was waking up as soon as his subconscious noticed the other man’s absence.  
  
Stephen was sitting on the edge of the bed, silhouetted against the light from the street lamps filtering through the curtains. He didn’t turn around when Nick sat up, and when Nick placed a comforting hand on his shoulder he could feel the tension in Stephen’s body.  
  
“Can’t sleep?”  
  
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”  
  
“It’s fine. Is something the matter?”  
  
Stephen shrugged. “Let’s just say I’ve spent too long in places where it’s a good idea to sleep with one eye open to let exhaustion get the better of me.”  
  
“You’re safe here.”  
  
“I know that. It’s just hard to stop being on my guard, that’s all.”  
  
Applying gentle pressure, Nick pulled Stephen backwards until the other man’s head was pillowed on his shoulder, his body once more a comforting warmth against Nick’s. Stephen came willingly, but Nick could still feel the tension thrumming through him, and he started stroking his hand down Stephen’s back, in random patterns and circular motions, petting and soothing until he felt Stephen start to relax again.  
  
“I still can’t quite believe you’re here,” Nick confessed in a quiet voice. “I thought you were dead, and yet here you are.”  
  
Stephen lifted his head, shifting slightly until he was propped up on his arm. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back,” he said.  
  
“Oh, don’t be such an idiot,” Nick remonstrated fondly. “If anything, _I’m_ sorry it took you so long. I’m sorry you had to go through that. It shouldn’t have happened. None of it.”  
  
Stephen smiled slightly. “Haven’t we already been over this?” he said. “Let’s just forget about it, yeah?”  
  
Nick nodded. “Okay. Deal.”  
  
“Actually, I’m surprised you haven’t asked me more questions about how I got back. I would have thought you’d be dying to know.” He grimaced suddenly. “Sorry. Bad choice of words.”  
  
“Does the tale reveal how you know what the artefact does?”  
  
“Yes. And a lot more besides. You see…”  
  
Nick cut him off by placing two fingers over his lips. “You’re right that I want to know,” he said. “But it can wait until the morning. I don’t need to hear about it now.”  
  
Dragging his fingers gently across Stephen’s bottom lip, he slid his hand round until it was resting against the back of Stephen’s neck. There was moment of questioning silence, and then he was pulling Stephen even closer, lips meeting tentatively as they both tried remember what the other felt like.  
  
As it turned out, kissing Stephen was like riding a bike, only no two-wheeled contraption had ever made him feel like this. Long seconds of hesitant exploration gave way to something surer, deeper, both of them open-mouthed and needy, content for the moment just with this, the recognition that they were together again.  
  
“You’ve let your hair grow long,” Stephen murmured against his mouth, his hands tangling in the soft strands, fingertips dragging against Nick’s scalp in a way that made him shiver suddenly. “I like it.”  
  
There was a pause then, as they looked at one another, the shadows in the room no barrier to reading everything in each other’s eyes.  
  
Then the slow burn of tension suddenly exploded into desperate, messy kisses, as Nick drew Stephen back to him, his tongue plundering Stephen’s mouth greedily as his hands roamed across a taut body, searching for the gaps in the clothing that would allow him to slide his fingers across naked skin.  
  
Stephen shifted again until was half-lying over Nick, his weight pressing down deliciously until Nick had to break the kiss to gasp something unintelligible, his hands pushing against Stephen’s t-shirt in a futile attempt to remove it.  
  
Stephen’s laughter was breathless as he clumsily assisted in the effort, arms, legs, and clothing becoming hopelessly tangled as they struggled together.  
  
Eventually, however, the offending garments were removed, and Nick groaned as Stephen’s lips immediately found his again, his skin smooth against Nick’s, and the hardness lying against Nick’s hip all too obvious.  
  
Another quick shift left Nick gasping as the friction ignited sparks behind his eyes. Stephen’s answering moan was music to his ears, and he tried to press upwards, to get more contact.  
  
Stephen thrust against him, the sensation of their cocks sliding together almost too much, but at the same time nowhere near enough. Nick found his hands clutching at Stephen’s hips, pulling him down, forcing them together as he writhed desperately.  
  
There was no rhythm, and no finesse. They’d both waited far too long, one of them so sure they’d never be together again, one of them wondering if he’d ever get back. Nick panted as he let Stephen take control, the other man thrusting desperately, trying to find just the right angle.  
  
“Stephen…” He was so close, he could feel the trembling in his body as heat curled in his belly, the sweet ache as he teetered on the edge.  
  
Stephen’s face was pressed into the crook of Nick’s neck, his lips mouthing at the soft skin there as he finally came, his efforts bringing Nick off at almost the same moment.  
  
The intensity of it was such that for a few moments Nick lost track of himself, floating pleasurably until he became aware that someone was watching him, and he looked up to meet Stephen’s eyes, still wide and almost black.  
  
Too spent to do anything else, he smiled, and saw Stephen smile back. He let Stephen clean them both up, feeling vaguely guilty at his inactivity, but not enough to let it trouble him.  
  
But when he summoned up the energy to reach out, Stephen crawled readily into his embrace until he was snuggled against Nick once more. A feeling of rightness settled over Nick. Tomorrow he would find out how Stephen had managed to get back to him, and Stephen would begin to go about regaining his life.  
  
But right now he had Stephen in his arms, and that was all that mattered.  
  
“Do you think you could sleep now?” he murmured softly.  
  
Stephen’s head moved against his shoulder in something that could have been a nod or a shake.  
  
“You’re safe here.” Nick repeated his earlier pronouncement.  
  
“I know. It’s just…” The arm that was wrapped around Nick’s torso tightened its grip slightly, almost unconsciously.  
  
Nick sighed silently, and pressed a kiss to Stephen’s hair. “Sleep,” he said firmly. “I promise I’ll still be here in the morning.”


	7. Chapter 7

  
Nick emerged from Lester’s office, his eyes darting around anxiously until they finally settled on Stephen, sitting a little way down the hall with Abby and Connor. He’d promised Stephen that he’d still be there in the morning, but truth be told, he hadn’t been at all sure that _Stephen_ would be. He still wondered if the other man was going to vanish if he took his eyes off him for too long.  
  
Since the ARC was out of commission for the foreseeable future, the anomaly project had decamped back to the Home Office on a temporary basis. Most of the arrangements and facilities were still to be worked out, but Lester seemed to have found himself a comfortable working space remarkably quickly, imperiously summoning everyone on the team to his new lair for an, in Nick’s opinion, outrageously early meeting to find out, “what the hell was going on.”  
  
Stephen noticed him when he was halfway down the hall, and smiled as he stood up. Abby and Connor remained sitting, although they were both watching proceedings with the air of eager spectators.  
  
Waving Stephen back on to his seat, Nick gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before leaning against the wall opposite.  
  
“Don’t worry, we’ve got a bit of breathing space. Sarah’s not here yet – something about traffic – and Jenny’s still trying to organise some offices and labs for the rest of us.”  
  
“How was Lester?” Stephen asked.  
  
“Pissed off, as you can imagine. And he didn’t get any less so when I refused to apologise about taking you away last night.”  
  
“Yeah, we could hear the shouting from here,” Connor said, grinning.  
  
“But he’s prepared to admit Stephen’s not a clone?” said Abby.  
  
“Well, not quite. But I think the fact that you haven’t tried to blow anything up, or infiltrate a top secret government facility, in the last eighteen hours is counting in your favour,” Nick told Stephen.  
  
“Oh, good,” replied Stephen, smiling wryly.  
  
“I can’t wait to hear how you got here,” Connor said enthusiastically. “I bet it’s a great story.”  
  
“Um, well, I’m not sure I’d put it quite like that…” Stephen said, his voice carefully giving nothing away. Even so, Abby still nudged Connor subtlely in the ribs, and it was enough to shut the younger man up, at least temporarily.  
  
“Well, however he got here, I’m just glad it was at the moment he did,” said Nick lightly. “That was lucky timing for me.”  
  
This time Stephen couldn’t stop the shadow that crossed his face. Nick noticed it immediately. “What’s the matter?”  
  
“There was nothing lucky about the timing,” Stephen said in a low voice.  
  
“What do you mean…oh.” Nick suddenly realised exactly what Stephen _did_ mean. And why he’d seemed so fragile the night before.  
  
“Helen was going to kill you. She _did_ kill you,” Stephen confirmed. He looked at Abby. “You told me all about it in the future. Not too far from now, Cutter was dead, Jenny was gone, you had a new team leader. It was all different. You helped me, Abby. You were so nice to me, but I couldn’t stay there. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t.”  
  
“And now that future won’t exist,” Abby said softly. Then she smiled suddenly. “Oh, it makes my head hurt just thinking about all the twisty time travel stuff.”  
  
Nick smiled too as Stephen’s face cleared. Clearly they still had a lot to talk about. He would find out much that Stephen hadn’t yet told him inside Lester’s office, but some of it didn’t belong there. Some of it was only for the two of them.  
  
Clacking heels announced Jenny’s arrival, with Sarah trailing after her. Right on schedule, Lester’s secretary opened the door and beckoned them back into the office, just as Becker appeared around a corner with military timing.  
  
Abby and Connor jumped up to follow the other three into the room. Stephen made to follow them, but Nick held him back for a moment. The corridors of the Home Office were hardly the place for public displays of affection, so he settled for just letting his fingers tangle with Stephen’s briefly.  
  
“Seems I’ve got more cause to be grateful to you than I thought,” he said quietly. “And it seems you’re not the only one who can come back from the dead.”  
  
“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter,” Stephen replied seriously. “Leaving you dead wasn’t really an option.”  
  
“Well, thank you,” said Nick. “And I really mean that.” Deciding abruptly that Home Office be damned, he leaned forward and gave Stephen a chaste kiss.  
  
“Cutter!” Lester’s yell spoiled the moment, and with a wry grin Nick stepped back.  
  
“Come on, time to go and face the inquisition.”  
  
Stephen rolled his eyes. “Let’s get it over with, then.”  
  
Sliding into the office under Lester’s annoyed gaze, Stephen took the chair left for him right in front of the desk, while Nick sat down next to Sarah in the corner.  
  
At Lester’s nod, Stephen began his tale.  
  
“Well, the first thing you should know is that if you ever come across a woman called Eve, she won’t be all she seems…”


End file.
